Pourable product containers, for example plastic blow molded one gallon liquid containers used to transport liquid products such as milk and fruit juices, or pourable granular products such as salt or pet food from a product producer to a product retailer have for some time been associated with the problem of transporting the product containers efficiently.
Efficient transport of product containers basically requires that as many containers as possible be fit into the smallest area for transporting. For example, containers such as cardboard or paperboard boxes containing goods are typically arranged in a tight fit three dimensional array on a pallet surface to efficiently transport the boxes. A tight fit two dimensional array of boxes is arranged as a bottom layer of boxes on the pallet surface. Additional tight fit two dimensional arrayed layers of boxes are stacked on top of the bottom layer. This results in a three dimensional tight fit arrangement of boxes on the pallet that can be efficiently transported.
With pourable product containers such as plastic blow molded gallon containers or bottles, it is not possible to fully employ the same technique of arranging a three dimensional stack of boxes on a pallet. Conventional plastic blow molded containers do not have a sufficient structural strength to support the weight of additional blow molded plastic containers, one on top of another. They also don't typically include features that enable the containers to be arranged in a tight fit two dimensional array or features that resist relative movement between adjacent containers that are arranged in a three dimensional array of containers.
There is a need for a plastic blow molded one gallon container construction that is sufficiently structurally strong to support the combined weight of additional stacked containers while also efficiently using a three dimensional space occupied by a three dimensional array of the containers and resisting relative movement between adjacent containers in the array.